Newcomer challenges a longtime incumbent
By BILL BARLOW/Special to the Sentinel
UPPPER TOWNSHIP – A relative newcomer, both in political terms and in his time in Upper Township, is challenging veteran incumbent Curtis Corson for Township Committee this year.
John Amenhauser is the Democratic nominee for Township Committee, seeking a seat on the five-man governing body in a race in which the pandemic is shaping both candidates’ approaches to campaigning.
Upper Township’s committee is currently all Republican. While some Democrats have successfully run, it doesn’t happen often, and the GOP has had the majority as long as anyone can remember.
Amenhauser argues that it is time for some new faces and new ideas on committee.
The pandemic is likely to have a big impact on this year’s race. The virus has already had an impact on Amenhauser, who in the spring became the second person in the county diagnosed with COVID-19. In April, he told The Press of Atlantic City that he was not hospitalized, but he spent 10 days in bed, intensely ill. After his recovery, he planned to donate blood plasma to be used to treat others.
Candidates in local elections usually rely on person-to-person contact, either knocking on doors or meeting people outside shopping centers and other gathering places. With restrictions still in place aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19, those options are mostly off the table.
“We can’t do a lot of door-to-door. People don’t want to see you coming to their houses,” Corson said in a recent phone interview.
“We have to find creative ways to reach voters,” said Amenhauser in a separate interview. He is looking to social media and other means of making contact with potential voters, he said, as well as the use of lawn signs.
“Lawn signs don’t vote, but they can get your name out there,” Amenhauser said. He grew up in Lower Township and spent his life in Cape May County. An attorney, he formerly worked with U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew and is now in private practice with the firm of Monzo, Catanese and Hillegass in Cape May Court House. He formerly worked with Jeffrey Sutherland’s Ocean City law firm, before Sutherland was tapped to serve as Cape May County prosecutor.
He said he did not leave his job with Van Drew because of the congressman’s high profile change of parties in 2019, but because he wanted to be back in Cape May County and was considering his own run for office.
Amenhauser described himself as a middle-of-the-road Democrat, and said the national party positions have little impact on the decisions made by Township Committee, which is instead focused on community and pocketbook issues.
He said he sees the current committee members as doing a good job, but he argues that a new voice and a new perspective would be helpful.
“I believe I can offer an upgrade to committee,” he said.
Amenhauser ran for county freeholder in 2016, falling short in that race, He said he moved to Upper Township because of its beauty and its quality of life, and said it seems like wonderful place to raise a family, with an excellent school system. He and his wife do not have children yet.
Amenhauser suggested term limits for local officials. He said he would seek to get a limit of three terms for committee members passed by local ordinance.
Corson has had 19 years on Township Committee, and he is not the longest serving member. Mayor Rich Palombo is in his 20th year as mayor, and has been a member of Township Committee even longer.
Corson plans to remain on committee.
“I enjoy it,” he said. “I care about my community. My family’s lived here for 13 generations.”
He said the current committee is doing good and is motivated.
Corson said he was off committee for a couple of years. That was after a primary challenge from current committee members Hobie Young and John Coggins. In 2016, Corson was appointed to the board to fill in the unexpired term of Jeff Pierson when he was named to the Cape May County Board of Chosen Freeholders. After that, Corson won a full term on the board.
Corson is an Army veteran and served on the Seaville Volunteer Fire Company. He also served on the Planning Board before becoming a member of Township Committee. He runs Plantation Campground on Corson Tavern Road, which his father founded in the late 1960s, as well as a self-storage business. He also farms, growing corn, sunflowers and beach plums.
On his roadside signs, Corson said he will fight for the right to vote in person, and calls on people to call Gov. Phil Murphy, who has ordered most voting to be done by mail this year because of the pandemic.
Many Republicans, including President Donald Trump and Corson, have questioned the validity of mail-in voting, arguing that it is prone to problems and possible voter fraud.
Most experts say voter fraud is rare in the United States, but concerns remain. This year saw the state file charges against an official in Patterson alleging voter fraud. More recently, officials in Sussex County announced that 1,666 primary ballots went uncounted because they were placed in a bin that had been mislabeled.
As Amenhauser pointed out, Corson has also voted by mail in previous elections. Corson argues that absentee ballots are fundamentally different, because they must be requested by the voter.
“They’re just going to mail everyone a ballot. When you vote absentee, there’s a process. They are just blindly sending a ballot to everyone,” Corson said.
Plans for the November election will be that every registered voter will be mailed a ballot, which can be returned by mail or dropped off in a secure collection spot. One is planned for the Upper Township Municipal Hall, 2100 Tuckahoe Road, along with other locations throughout the county. Voters can also drop their ballots off at their polling place on Nov. 3.
Corson argues that many voters worry about the process.
“Everybody I speak to is concerned about it. The primary results show it. A lot of people who normally vote did not vote this year. I hear the numbers were down from 2016,” Corson said.
Reports are that the election turnout for the July primary, also held primarily by mail, were up compared to the last presidential election in 2016. Numbers in Cape May County also showed an increase, with slightly more Democrats and Republicans voting this year than in the 2016 primary.
In 2016, which also had Ted Cruz and John Kasich still on the ballot for the GOP nomination, Trump took 8,363 votes, or almost 79 percent of the 10,635 votes cast for president. A county report shows less than 3 percent of the votes were mail-in.
This year, alone on the ballot, Trump took better than 95 percent of the Republican primary vote in Cape May County, with 11,091 of 11,586 votes cast by mail. This year saw 9,324 Democratic primary votes, of which Joe Biden took 85.5 percent, or 7,973. Although Bernie Sanders had withdrawn from the race by the New Jersey primary, he still got 1,264 votes in Cape May County.
The Democratic participation was also up, compared to 7,274 votes for president in 2016, with a close split between Hillary Clinton and Sanders.
The primary mail-in ballots did take longer to tally this summer.
At last week’s Township Committee meeting, Township Clerk Barbara Young said active registered voters can expect a ballot in the mail by Oct. 10. Anyone with questions about the election or their registration may call the clerk’s office at Township Hall at (609) 628-2011.
“If you don’t want to put your ballot in the mail, you can bring it to town hall,” she said. “If you take your ballot there, it will be counted. I just want to assure everyone your votes count.”
Mayor Richard Palombo said the secure box will be available outside 24 hours and is under video surveillance.